dont laugh but I got paylake questions.

dont laugh but i go to paylake when the river is to high because the lake i fish has trophy cats and its a catch and release so the fish are always there. there is some small ones u can keep but any over 15 goes back with a picture and a smile. i caught a 48lb blue the first time i went. my question is i caught it on shad guts. what have people been using to catch the monsters at a paylake. he says he doesnt feed them since its catch and release. one night i seen a 76lber caught.

I'm shocked at the lack of negative posts in this...:crazy::roll_eyes::wink::smile2:...Wow, some of you have amazed me!!!:crazy::roll_eyes::smile2:....Thank You!:wink:

I rarely go to them but know several people that frequent them almost every week. I can't say personally but from what I've been told Big Live Gills, Live Shad, Live Big Creek Chubs and some cut Gill and Shad Heads and Skipjack. Usually when I go its for the clean farm raised eaters. I've been to one this year to fish and caught Zero, all my other trips have been to 2 local rivers. When my back gets healed up hopefully by end of July or August I've scouted some killer spots at a couple local rivers. I Love Fishing the river, Thats my favorite place to be!!!!!!:wink::big_smile::cool2:

What part in KY you all in? The Ohio River area I fish is about the best fishing around with the Big Sandy running a close second.

yeah thats great you caught a big catfish at a pay lake i wonder where that fish got so big at before it was brought to that pay lake the small catfish are probalby native to that lake you should give your money to the DNR let them stock the lakes and the rivers thats why we buy fishing licenses

Whistler, Twinkie, Someone? Please put an end to this thread before it gets ugly.

Crazy Kat, we dont talk to much about pay lakes here on the BOC. Its a rather hot topic from time to time and opinions certainly vary.

I dont know if you realize it or not, but the fish in the Paylake you are referring too, were taken from one of a half dozen or so PUBLIC rivers by means of a TrotLine, or a hoop net then transported to that Pond to be starved to death and caught several times by Pay Fisherman. Those fish were NOT raised in that lake, merely placed there by the myriad of Trotliners that are stealing them from our Public River System and sold for money, to die within a year. No worry, trotliners will be back out there this winter taking several hundred thousand pounds more for your 'enjoyment'.

My advice, utilize the BOCs vast resources and genuinely caring people to hitch a ride and learn how to catch "Wild" Catfish. High Waters isnt a real good excuse in my humble opinion for not fishing.

Not saying all pay ponds are bad, but the ones that promise a Trophy Fishery are utilizing a resource taken from the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi, Cumberland, Tennessee Rivers Etc Etc. Anyone that brags of catching a large catfish in a Pay Pond, DID NOT catch it, the Trotliner in the river did. Starving Wild Fish in Pay Ponds doesnt count.

Perhaps you can spend a few minutes reading the Catfish Rescue Petition that is adjacent to this thread before you want to brag about big fish in pay ponds.

Whistler, Twinkie, Someone? Please put an end to this thread before it gets ugly.

Crazy Kat, we dont talk to much about pay lakes here on the BOC. Its a rather hot topic from time to time and opinions certainly vary.

I dont know if you realize it or not, but the fish in the Paylake you are referring too, were taken from one of a half dozen or so PUBLIC rivers by means of a TrotLine, or a hoop net then transported to that Pond to be starved to death and caught several times by Pay Fisherman. Those fish were NOT raised in that lake, merely placed there by the myriad of Trotliners that are stealing them from our Public River System and sold for money, to die within a year. No worry, trotliners will be back out there this winter taking several hundred thousand pounds more for your 'enjoyment'.

My advice, utilize the BOCs vast resources and genuinely caring people to hitch a ride and learn how to catch "Wild" Catfish. High Waters isnt a real good excuse in my humble opinion for not fishing.

Not saying all pay ponds are bad, but the ones that promise a Trophy Fishery are utilizing a resource taken from the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi, Cumberland, Tennessee Rivers Etc Etc. Anyone that brags of catching a large catfish in a Pay Pond, DID NOT catch it, the Trotliner in the river did. Starving Wild Fish in Pay Ponds doesnt count.

Perhaps you can spend a few minutes reading the Catfish Rescue Petition that is adjacent to this thread before you want to brag about big fish in pay ponds.

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Good post Cuz but I just don't get it if a guy that happens to go sometimes to a pay lake and asks a question why everyone jumps on them and lectures them? The pay lakes that promise monster cats are full of BS!!! Its to hook the fisherman, I have been skunked many times and know many others that have. It is a challenge, especially for disabled/handicapped people to fish in them, Its not like shooting fish in a barrel, I promise that!
I can't fish at all period right now. I may hit 1 or 2 in a couple months while my body heals up so I don't have to traverse big rocks and hills on the river where I really wanna fish!!!
We are allowed to talk about them here, just no names of them. I definitely don't agree with the practices of a lot of them but those kinds never get my $$$!
What I'm saying is its legal and if somebody wants to do it then if you can help answer their question great. If not, skip on by it. Same way with alternative methods of catfishing, that forum isn't for everybody and neither is CPR.
I do that on lots of threads that I know I won't know the answer to or could care less about the subject or something I don't like.
To me, IMHO, this just doesn't seem too much like a Brotherhood anymore, more like my way or the wrong way hood.
Don't get me wrong I love this place but lately it has gotten bad in certain areas. Not enough JUST fishing and too much political BS.

And no offense taken buddy. I'm not against the idea of Pay Lakes Per Se. I do know there are a multitude of pay lakes out there that have farm raised fish, that usually come from fish farms in southern tier states like Louisiana. These in my mind are great places to take children, and many offer disabled/handicap access which is a great thing too I believe. The fish that are in these lakes didnt get taken out of the public river systems.

The Lakes that I have the big problem with are the Trophy Lakes. Those Big Fish dont grow and reproduce in that environment, they were Put There by folks that sold those big fish to the pond. In the most extreme example I can give, there is one unscrupulous gentleman that owns 3 of these lakes, in Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. Not only is he the Owner, he also is the same one that catches the fish every winter when the fish are schooled up. Ironically, he sells the fish to himself. :crazy: He bragged to me in person that he takes over 100,000 Pounds of fish from the river every year. The small fish are sold to fish houses, the big fish go to his lakes. He also indicated without fail, the big fish are all dead by the end of the fall, and he must commence to filling the lakes again with Blues and Flatheads from the Rivers Systems allover the Southeast. When this character left the banks of the Ohio River that week, he left with 10,000 Pounds of Blue Cats. It made me sick to my stomach. He was 'nice' enough to show me photos of his 6000 square foot log home, his deer farm, and mention the fact he earned over 300,000 dollars last year on selling fish to himself, and dumping them into his pay lakes, and selling to the fish houses.

Many on this board have contributed hundreds, if not thousands, of there own personal dollars, and infinite amount of time raising awareness with politicians, appealing to state conservations departments, and the general public to put an end to the killing of so many big fish for a very select few. (See the Catfish Rescue Thread) Our Public River systems are NOT a never ending flow of wealth for a select few that take so much from it for their own wallet. I will fight this battle until my last dying breath so that 10 years from now were not all on the BOC wondering why no one is catching any bigger fish, and all the conversations begin with "remember the days"

Everyone is entitled to their point of view. I wasnt trying to beat on the person that started this thread, just mention a different viewpoint. Most folks dont know where those fish are even coming from. There are fronts going on in several states now to put an end to this type of fishery. We must put an end to the interstate transportation of Live Game Fish.

Again, I'm not against pay lakes and believe they have there place. I'm against the ones that have taken large fish from the rivers and put them into a pond then charge anglers money to catch them, and have fishing tournaments and contest.

If there is any solace to gain lately, its that these laws will start changing soon and these places will go by the wayside, for the majority of anglers are for saving fisheries not destroying them for a select few.

did you guys not read what i said????? wake up!!!!!! i fish the river all the time. i said i go to the paylake when the river is up to high to get the boat out. im not a paylake guy. i havent even been in 2 yrs to a paylake. i only go when they have a tourny and there is money to be won. and i live in owensboro fish the ohio river but i got a tourny on the green next month so im gonna try my luck in the green. sorry if i offended u great river fisherman since i said the word PAYLAKE lol:smile2: get over it.

They don't have pay lakes in my neck of the woods. First off i want to say if they are stocked with pond raised fish i have no problem with the practice. Like Cuz stated they are a great place for children, disabled and folks who simply don't have a place to fish. My family raises catfish and minnows in south Arkansas, and to know some kid caught the fish, rather than ordered it from a restaurant makes me smile.
I DO NOT agree with taking wild fish and stocking these ponds with them, regardless if it's set on catch & release principles or not.

did you guys not read what i said????? wake up!!!!!! i fish the river all the time. i said i go to the paylake when the river is up to high to get the boat out. im not a paylake guy. i havent even been in 2 yrs to a paylake. i only go when they have a tourny and there is money to be won. and i live in owensboro fish the ohio river but i got a tourny on the green next month so im gonna try my luck in the green. sorry if i offended u great river fisherman since i said the word PAYLAKE lol:smile2: get over it.

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We can agree to disagree. I did read what you said. You dont offend me, you just choose to give money to a person with no respect for conservation or wildlife and I choose not too. Doesnt make you a bad person, and you dont have to worry, noone else is laughing and I will "Get Over It" when I see the interstate transporation of Large Live Catfish become Illegal.

he says he doesnt feed them since its catch and release. one night i seen a 76lber caught.

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There's the mark of a quality pond - why feed 'em, if they want to eat, let them eat something with a hook in it. They won't live long, but hey, just set more nets/lines in the river and get more. The only people that lose are everyone who catfishes the river and doesn't go to paylakes. That's the aggravation with the lakes. Every paid trip to one of them is more money in the owner's pocket to provide incentive to buy/catch more trophy fish out of the rivers. By that reasoning I should be able to set live traps for ANY game animal and provide paid hunts.

I'm sorry if disability prevents someone from fishing the river or preferred body of water, but they can still make the choice to fish a place that stocks farm raised fish as opposed to those taken from public waters.

We have a pay pond fairly close to our house that is full of farm raised channels, while I have never been I have friends that have taken their kids out there and catch enough channels for a nice fish fry. This is what I think pay ponds should be for.

I don't see the appeal of catching a starved big cat out of a couple acre pond. The big fish in there were basically stolen and then exploited, then thrown away when they had served their purpose.

Well my 2 cents is if its a legal way to fish do it its your right! If people dont like it tuff!!!! Get over yourself with the Im better than you attitude,Your no better than anyone else just because you quote only fish lakes and the river. But back to the question the thread starter asked yes Blue gills,goldfish,small carp and anything else a RIVER fish will bite a paylake fish will too!!! Hope this helps!:crazy:oooh::wink: